Abstract
Divalent cations have long been known to play a crucial part in the adhesive functions of cells. As long ago as 1894 Roux showed that media lacking Ca2+ ions aided the disaggregation of frog embryos. Herbst (1900) discovered that the blastomeres of echinoderm embryos fall apart in Ca2+ free seawater, though it is now known that the principal effect is dissolution of the hyaline capsule. Later workers frequently used chelating agents, most commonly sodium salts of ethylenediaminetetracetic acid (EDTA), to help the removal of divalent cation and bring about disaggregation. Its effectiveness has been demonstrated by Anderson (1953) on mammalian cells, by Zwilling (1954) on chick embryos, by Coman (1954) in adult rat liver, and by Curtis (1967) on amphibian embryos. Because EDTA chelates divalent cations in the preferential sequence
however, disaggregation in EDTA might be connected with chelation of less strongly bound cations, as well as Ca2+. EGTA which is potentially capable of distinguishing between Ca2+ and Mg2+, since the respective stability constants of Ca2+ and Mg2+ complexes are 1011 and 105, does not seem to have been utilized for this purpose.
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© 1970 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Gingell, D., Garrod, D.R., Palmer, J.F. (1970). Divalent Cations and Cell Adhesion. In: Cuthbert, A.W. (eds) A Symposium on Calcium and Cellular Function. Biological Council. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-00905-3_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-00905-3_5
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